In a way, Middlesex were unlucky to be relegated as they only finished two points off fourth place. In another way, they weren’t unlucky because Somerset, Hampshire and Yorkshire all finished with more points than they did, which is kind of the aim of this whole endeavour. As title defences
Continue readingMonth: September 2017
Where are your ‘bad pitch’ thresholds?
What is a bad pitch? We can get some sort of an idea by working out what we deem to be a good pitch – but there’s more to it than that. Most people will say a pitch is bad when wickets fall too easily. When a pitch gives too
Continue readingEngland to win the Ashes via airy off-side drives
Is that a dripping tap way off in the distance? No, it’s actually James Vince gently knocking on the door to politely request selection, if that wouldn’t be too much trouble. Quite how the selectors heard him is beyond us. Vince wasn’t thought to be good enough at the start
Continue readingBen Stokes makes a night in the cells happen
The facts are these. Splice and dice them as you see fit. The ECB say that 26-year-old Ben Stokes was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning following “an incident” in Bristol Police say a 26-year-old man was arrested that night on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm Another
Continue readingSpin bowling is abnormal – ask any county cricket supporter
In England, spin academies aren’t so much schools of excellence as institutions built to keep the weirdos away from the normals. Seam bowling is normal; not to be remarked upon. Spin bowling is other. If people see a lot of something, they become conditioned into thinking it’s the default. So
Continue readingMoeen Ali does some clean hitting
Mo mowed it. It was a day of increasing numbness to sixes and Batting Ali had the good sense to get in early when they still seemed important and the match was still in the balance. Others may have hit the ball further, but no-one lashed it quite so reliably
Continue readingA cricket bat in a Danish nouveau-punk duo’s video
Ged writes: PowerSolo are a wild and crazy Danish nouveau-punk duo. They mostly tour around Europe, not the UK. My old friend Pinball Geoff put me onto them recently – they are even more mad than his band, the Bikini Beach Band. Short story. During the first twenty seconds of
Continue readingEngland v South Africa at Trent Bridge – match report
Bert writes: Whenever Ged goes to the Test, he is literally sustained by a succession of culinary marvels. My test match sustenance, on the other hand, is more metaphorical than literal, being largely a succession of pointless and asinine conversations. But just as when Harry Morgan’s closes its doors for
Continue readingA spider being conspicuously indifferent to cricket
Ged writes: This plucky fellow was observed in the Lower Compton Stand at Lord’s, very close to the historic concrete step where King Cricket demonstrated his “Real World Skills” in 2016. Perhaps this spider’s magnificent web is an arachnidian equivalent of a blue plaque, commemorating King Cricket’s astonishing feat…or merely
Continue readingCambridge University v Arabs match report
Edwardian writes: I arrived at Fenner’s just after start of play and exchanged a ‘hello’ with an Arab in a floppy hat on the boundary. I had to bone up on Arabs before the match. The team are a wandering outfit started by E.W. (Jim) Swanton back in the frozen
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